


SONI Volume 1

by not_bobo



Series: SONI [1]
Category: RWBY
Genre: Adventure, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Friendship, Gen, Next Generation, Original Character(s), SONI Timeline, Tags will be added, Team as Family, idk how to tag this
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-06
Updated: 2021-02-05
Packaged: 2021-03-17 19:08:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,052
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29230512
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/not_bobo/pseuds/not_bobo
Summary: Summer Xiao-Long, Octavia Coal, Nyla Lissie, and Ilie Schnee. Four aspiring huntsmen, from four different environments. They’ll probably get along, but will they even get through their first year of Beacon?
Relationships: Blake Belladonna/Yang Xiao Long, Minor or Background Relationship(s), Oscar Pine/Ruby Rose, Raven Branwen/Taiyang Xiao Long, Weiss Schnee/Neptune Vasilias
Series: SONI [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2146350
Kudos: 1





	SONI Volume 1

**Author's Note:**

> Ah, you probably have seen the name SONI float around (or you came from the accounts I made for it... I have them on Twitter and Instagram as soni_is_an_au and Tumblr as next-gen-rwby) Either way, the long wait is over! After a few setbacks, the first chapter is here... Though this will NOT be updated until Volume 8 is complete for two reasons, I wish to enjoy it, and I also have another issue involving something you'll figure out very quickly (Not to do with writing, but 'thumbnails', you'll see it if you read this on AO3) Either way, I hope you enjoy! Please note that I am no professional, nor am trying to come across as one, if you catch a spelling/grammatical error don't be afraid to tell me!

**_Chapter 1_ **

**_-_ **

**_Beacon Academy_ **

_**Summer Xiao-Long got into Beacon, and she's shocked to find out her 15-year-old friend got in as well. Maybe things won't seem as terrifying when you have the support of loved ones.** _

The sound of a zipper closing up a duffle bag could be heard as a girl with two black pigtails picked up her belongings. She did a quick check around her room to be sure everything she'd put out to pack had been placed inside a bag, and when nothing could be spotted she nodded to herself. Quickly, she double-checked to be sure all her luggage was marked correctly with what was inside, and with her name. Summer Xiao-Long.

The moment she knew she'd checked it all she smiled to herself in a satisfactory manner. Summer was happy to tell herself she was heading to Beacon Academy to follow in her family's footsteps. She was going to become a huntress.

That was the simplest statement she could make, so far her journey to get to this point hadn't been over the top difficult, but her determination to teach herself and have as little help from anyone else made things a lot more difficult than in contrast to the average person. She couldn't complain too much though, she was very skilled with her weapon now… Pirzola. It was sitting over on top of her drawer cabinet beside a bag labeled as ammo, which was what was used in the axes' gun function.

She was wasting time though, she had to leave soon and none of her stuff was in the car. She went ahead and grabbed a bag and headed down the stairs of her house to find her parents sitting together in the living room.

"You finally packed?" Summer's mom was the first to speak, as she stood up to open the door for Summer.

"Yup! Can you and dad help me get my stuff in the back of the car..?" Summer asked, she was strong, her arms definitely showed that off, but she had a lot of stuff and it'd be easier to get a helping hand.

"Alright, do you have any sort of order you want things in or do we just put them in the back?" Her mom asked.

"Just put it in the back, everything's labeled already so I should be fine," Summer said back as she opened the back of her parents' car to place the first bag in the back. When she went back inside she passed her dad carrying down a bag of her clothes.

"Can't believe you're finally going to Beacon," He said, to which Summer rolled her eyes.

"It was going to happen eventually, anyone could've guessed that," She said down the stairs as she reached the top and went back into her room, passing her mom in the process. She grabbed the bag labeled ammo along with Pirzola and headed back to the car to put them both in the back.

After a few minutes, everything packed was out of her room and neatly placed in the back of the car. Well, as neatly as it could get. When she shut the door behind her after placing the final bag in the back of the car she checked the clock. They still had almost an hour to get there, and she knew the airship station was only about 20 minutes away. She ended up sitting on the sofa in between her parents for a few minutes before her mom let out a suggestion.

"You know, if we have as much time as we do we can go get you a quick snack, in case dinner gets delayed," Summer's mom said, "I heard there was a good bakeshop that opened recently."

"Didn't you go there the other day?" Her dad asked, to which her mom awkwardly looked away.

"Well… Yeah, I did, they had some good tea," Summer knew her mom really liked tea, something that was passed down to Summer.

"Nothing beats a good cup of tea with a pastry though, I'm down to go," Summer announced, and her dad took a moment but eventually nodded and stood up. When Summer stood up with her mom Summer took a deep breath. She knew she'd be gone for a while and she could easily admit she'd miss home.

While her parents walked outside to start the car, she took one last look around the house, rushing upstairs one last time to take a look at her room. She felt the nostalgia cross as she made her way back down the stairs, taking another moment to stare at the most recent photo hanging of her family. Her parents, herself standing in between them, her sister Ruby and her husband Oscar, her other sister Yang along with her wife Blake and their daughter Dawn. She smiled for a moment and eventually reached the bottom of the stairs.

When she got outside her parents had already started the car when she sat down in the backseat.

"So Summer…" Her mom began as they pulled out of the driveway, "Have you talked to Ilie recently?"

"No..? Why do you ask?" She responded.

"I don't know, I just figured you'd both be talking a lot more before leaving for Beacon," Summer's mom pointed out. Summer hadn't even thought of that, she and Ilie were incredibly close but he had barely texted her in the past month… Now that she thought about it she didn't remember the last time they'd even video chatted.

Pulling into the parking lot of the bakery the 3 got out of the car and headed inside. It was mostly vacant aside from the person behind the counter, but still felt crowded due to its smaller size.

"Mrs. Branwen! Glad to see you back," The lady behind the front counter, who Summer assumed was the barista, said, "I assume you've come back for another cup of that tea I made you?"

"Of course, and just Raven is fine," Summer's mom was not a very formal person, being quite the opposite in reality, "Could we get three cups of that tea you made me along with…" Her mom turned to Summer, prompting her to choose a pastry.

"A strawberry scone would be fine," Summer said, looking at the display case that had a strawberry scone placed neatly with a drizzle of vanilla frosting across the top. The barista nodded leaning down to grab the scone from the case and wrapping it in a cloth.

"It'll be a minute before the tea is ready, your total will be 7 lien." The barista said as Summer's dad took the lien out of his pocket and handed it to the cashier.

"Keep the change, we appreciate local business!" He said as the three of them sat down at a table and waited for their tea. Once it was brought out Summer took a sip and smiled at the sweet taste of honey and some herb she didn't recognize. Her mom on the other hand raised an eyebrow at her cup.

"This is decaf, right?" She asked, the barista was very quick to respond.

"Yes, of course! I made it just how I made it for you last time," The barista sputtered out.

"Why do you always worry about your tea having caffeine so much, mom?" Summer asked. It wasn't too much to note, but her mom never had caffeine in her tea.

"It's because of you," Her mom said, Summer placed her cup down and looked over to her father, who was lightly chuckling to himself.

"Wait, why? What's so funny?!" Summer asked, to which her dad burst out laughing. Her mom eventually joined in the laughing as well.

"Summer, you never were told the whole story of the night you were born, weren't you?" Summer's mom prompted, "The tea I drank that night had been over-caffeinated even though we'd asked for decaf, it's kind of funny now but… That's why I refuse to drink caffeinated tea."

"Oh," She'd been told a few stories of the chaotic night she was born but she'd never been told about that part. Honestly, she had to agree with her mom on the part about how it was funny now.

"If you don't mind me asking, what is the recipe for this tea? I've never had anything like this before," Summer was shocked her dad was interested in the making behind the tea, considering he didn't have much of a favor for tea himself.

"Oh, I have it written down if you'd like to perhaps copy it, I'm not worried about sharing it," The barista said, digging into a drawer below the main counter, "It was a recipe from a bakery in Argus, one of my friend's sister's if I'm remembering it correctly." She stepped out from behind the counter and walked over and placed a sheet of paper on the table, "It isn't incredibly hard, but the herb is odd to have been used, I assume you noticed it has ginkgo in it."

"Ginkgo? Isn't that a bit hard to find?" Summer's mom asked.

"Not really, you can find it online sometimes, but not a lot of people know about it so it isn't in super high demand," She said, taking the piece of paper back up once Summer's dad had copied it down.

"We should probably be going, the ship leaves in 30 minutes and we're still 15 minutes away," Summer's mom had stood up, grabbing her tea.

"Alright, well thank you for stopping by again," The barista promptly turned to Summer, "Good luck at Beacon."

"Thank you," Summer said as the three headed back out to the car, once they'd pulled out Summer asked, "Why did we have to leave now?"

"Your sister has been pestering us to show up early," Summer's dad said.

"Ruby? Wonder what's up…" Summer said, leaning to the side and staring out the window. Minutes passed with light conversation sprouting up here and there before they finally pulled into the parking lot of the airship base.

The three got out and went to the back to go ahead and get Summer's luggage.

"There you are!" Came a high pitched voice from behind Summer. She whirled around to see Ruby standing by herself, odd as it seemed, "I've been waiting for you!"

"Why?" Summer asked, "We didn't have to be here for another 15 minutes or so."

"Oh you'll see," Those words made Summer gulp, she should be used to special treatment by now but it was Ruby, one of the last people who gave her special treatment, so this was incredibly odd.

Yet a few minutes passed and nothing happened, by this point they'd put all of Summer's luggage to the place it needed to go. More students had even started arriving, some were obvious first years while some looked like they could be professors. Summer by this point had gone to stand near the cliffside that was by the airships. There was a glass railing between her and what could be death, but she only stared, watching as airships flew by.

She was a tad nervous, going in by herself. Her dad told her not to worry, that she'd be okay. It was reassuring but the thought still lingered. If she didn't like her teammates she was in big trouble.

That was an odd thing to think about though, Summer liked mostly everyone she ran into unless they were… Well the opposite of herself. She was mostly chill and could tolerate most people. Realizing that, she took a deep breath before turning back around to see a strangely familiar car roll into the parking lot.

Summer raised an eyebrow before looking to see Ruby ready to explode with excitement.

_Wait..._

Her mind took a second to fully click why her older sister was excited as she was. When the back door to said car opened and out shot a familiar white-headed boy she realized what was going on for real.

"Summer!" Ilie yelled pulling Summer into a hug, for a split second Summer held an uneasy face, before finally embracing the hug, "Surprise!" He gleefully said.

"Your parents really brought you all this way just to say goodbye?" Summer said, noting her sister who was now greeting Weiss and Neptune in the background, the two getting out of the car along with Ilie's twin sisters, Wilma and Winnie.

"Well… I wanted to tell you for a while but I got in!" Ilie said. Summer's eyes widened as their hug released.

"You WHAT?!" Summer shouted, neglecting the fact that there were people around them.

"Got into Beacon!" Ilie said again, "It's… I don't know why I did but Uncle Oscar just randomly had a letter sent asking for me to try the entrance exams and I passed and I was let in this year!"

"I need to sit down…" Summer said, walking over to the sidewalk and sitting on the edge of it, "Is this why you haven't called me in over a month?"

"I guess you can say I've been busy but also wanted to be discreet," He said, "Sorry, by the way. It was Ruby's idea!"

"Ruby's?" She looked back over to her sister, who was now walking over to the two of them followed by Ilie's family.

"I told you that you'd see," Ruby said, hands on her hips.

"Well, I guess you should- Is your stuff already here?" Summer asked.

"Mom and I brought it last night," He said, as he helped Summer back up.

"This was unexpected," She said, finally taking the time to go and hug her aunt and uncle. They may not be technically related to her but since she lacked either she saw them as her aunt and uncle.

"Take care of Ilie, Summer," Weiss said when Summer hugged her.

"He was really excited that he's going with you, so make sure he doesn't get into trouble," Neptune added when Summer hugged him.

"You both will do well," Weiss said, "You're both extremely talented in fighting, _and in academics…_ " The last part was whispered.

Ilie and Summer both looked away embarrassed for a moment before Summer's parents came back over.

"Did you guys know?" Summer asked them, yet their response was a shake of the head.

"Ruby told us when we got here, so…" Summer's dad said.

After 10 minutes Ilie and Summer were on that airship, waving goodbye to their families. Once they were out of sight Summer turned to Ilie, eyes wide.

"So. Tell me the story." Summer had sat down in a seat, because she expected it was going to be incredibly long.

She was right.

Turned out Weiss had not been sure about letting him go, so he had to do some negotiating with the help of Ruby. It stuck with Summer that Ruby had been heavily involved and she wondered exactly why. Perhaps she thought it'd be ironic since Ruby and Yang went to Beacon together?

Whatever the reason may be, the airship was over before she felt like it really started thanks to Ilie's elaborate story. When the ship did halt it took her by surprise. The opening showed itself again and Ilie and Summer were soon off that airship. In the middle of the crowd in which other airships were coming in Summer saw Ilie looking frantically for his luggage. She placed her hand on his shoulder, "Do you want some help?"

"Yeah, sorry… There's just so many people," Ilie said, a little out of breath from running around.

"What did you expect?" Summer said, before taking Ilie by the arm and going directly to where she recognized a familiar emblem, "And here we are."

Ilie looked to her gratefully before realizing he was going to have to get it all himself. He sighed for a moment before picking up his three suitcases miraculously with his hands and slinging a few backpacks over his shoulders. Summer rushed off quickly and located her luggage as well, quickly grabbing it all. Once inside they sat it back down in a designated pile before moving towards the auditorium.

"You expect to see anyone from Signal?" Ilie asked, Summer had originally gone to Signal before Beacon.

"More or less, I'll recognize people for sure," Summer said, "I'm glad you're here though."

"Hm?" Ilie hummed.

"I wasn't expecting to ever get to go to school or anything of the sorts with you, I honestly wasn't sure entirely myself if you would even attend an academy." Summer said, Ilie had been homeschooled for the majority of his childhood, including his training.

"I would never attend Atlas Academy, that's about it though," Ilie said, which raised a few questions for Summer to ask.

"But why? Your aunt literally runs the school, along with Penny of all people," Summer had known that after Atlas had _literally_ almost fallen followed by a temporary escape from Salem, Ironwood had been forced out of his position due to his dictator-like ways, Winter Schnee and Penny Polendina had ended up taking Ironwood's two council seats he held, now running the school and military as sort of joint business partners.

"We should just head into the auditorium, okay?" Ilie quickly put, before rushing ahead a bit. Admitting to herself she wasn't going to get an answer, she followed behind not saying a word more. They arrived inside and both found a spot on the wall to chill with each other for a while.

It felt like an eternity had passed when someone finally came over the speaker.

"Apologizes for the delay, your headmaster has been held up with an emergency and won't be able to speak tonight," A feminine voice spoke, one Summer didn't recognize, "For those who are first years, my name is Professor Spring. Returning students can head to their dorms for the night, new students will be in the ballroom. Remember the be rested, after breakfast tomorrow morning Professor Pine will hold his opening speech." Professor Spring stayed silent for a moment, "You're dismissed."

"That was quick," Ilie uttered, Summer nodded in agreement.

"Wonder what's up, a box of tea from your mom is on it being my sister showing up," Summer chuckled at the thought.

"That's probably not it, I barely recognize any of the staff from when I came for the entrance exams," Ilie pointed out, Summer took note of the fact she only recognized maybe 1 or 2 of the staff in the auditorium.

"Weird… Well, it's whatever, if it's important enough your know Ruby will tell us," She was thankful for her older sister for that, and if it wasn't Ruby filling them in, it was Yang. Though Summer and Yang barely spoke as is, so it would be unlikely.

"Well, what are you waiting for? Let's get dinner!" Ilie popped Summer's thoughts as he started walking ahead again.

"Wait for me at least!" Summer shouted as she sped ahead to catch up with the white-haired boy. The two entered the cafeteria and entered the line. They passed a few of the older students and Summer had shyly waved at a few she recognized from Signal or from when she visited.

Eventually, the two had their plates and were sitting at a table beside each other. The table was full of people and they'd been lucky to get end seats, so Ilie was on the edge of the table. Summer and Ilie didn't say a word until after they'd eaten and gotten their stuff and moved to the ballroom. Most girls stayed to one side of the room while guys were on the other, but Ilie and Summer stayed in the middle where they rolled out sleeping bags just beside each other.

The two had already gone off and showered and changed into their pajamas when they'd sat down to play go fish. Simple card game, but for passing time until they had to go to sleep.

"Go fish," Ilie had said to Summer, she picked up a card from the deck. It was a chess-themed go fish deck, so her hand consisted of 3 cards, a black queen, a white pawn, and a black bishop. She'd been close to winning, but Ilie still had 1 card left in his hand and Summer saw the pile of matches he had in front of him. The odds were stacked against her, "Black queen?"

"Why must the Gods hurt me this way," Summer dramatically rolled her eyes as she handed the card to Ilie, who smirked as he picked up the slim deck that was left of the cards in the bowl.

"I win." He pridefully stated, "That's enough though, I'm tired."

"You guys should go to bed anyways, it's late," Said someone from behind, Summer turned her head to see Ruby standing just behind her, peeking over her shoulder.

"Ruby! So you did come?" Summer said, Ruby crouched down to squat on the floor.

"Summer, I live here," Ruby chuckled.

"Yeah but I thought you had a mission," She noted, earlier Ruby had mentioned she had a mission to get to later after the duo left.

"I did, but… Stuff came up, look sorry about earlier with Oscar, something happened and I'd like to tell you but I can't right now," Ruby's silver eye had been suddenly pierced with worry. Staring into it Summer tried to think about how it'd be seeing Ruby with two silver eyes like she'd seen in old photographs. Ruby had lost her right eye during one of the final battles with Salem, and since then she hadn't been afraid of hiding the claw mark scar across her face where an eye would be.

"Oh, is it anything to worry about..?" Ilie asked, Summer knew he was the worrier, she could even say he worried more sometimes than someone like Wilma, and that was saying something.

"Not right now, I doubt it'll be anything major, but when I can talk to you guys about it I promise I will," Ruby paused, "Anyways, you two should go to sleep, you both have a big day tomorrow, also…" Ruby lowered her voice in a dramatic manner, "A little birdie named Oscar Pine might've slipped something about partners, all I can say is eye-"

"You know we know how the partnering works, right?" Summer interrupted.

"Yes I know, but let me still have some fu- You know what never mind!" Ruby stood up and crossed her arms, "Goodnight you two, I'm proud of y'all."

"Night Ruby," Summer and Ilie said in union. Ruby waved before walking off and out of the ballroom.

"So, goodnight I guess," Summer said, turning off the lamp they'd been using.

"Night Summer," Ilie said.

Soon sleep came over. Followed by morning.

**, , , , , ,**

Wake up. Get a shower. Get dressed. Eat Breakfast. Ceremony. It went by in such a flash Summer felt as if it was a fever dream. The speech Oscar gave wasn't in particular what stood out, but the way he talked. It felt different than the way she'd heard him spoke before.

Either way, she held Pirzola in her arms now, grabbing ammo from the locker she'd stored her axe in. Ilie had been beside her, holding his rapier with his right hand. She'd figured it would be cold to hold the metal, considering it having been in a locker all night, but that was shut down when she looked at the wrap on his hand.

Her goal was simple when they made it outside, launch, land, and find Ilie. They'd been lined up and Oscar was explaining how the process would work, a process that had been previously explained in stories and even once by Oscar himself during a Christmas party a few years back.

3\. 2. 1.

She was in the air, Pirzola over her shoulder as she looked for a good place to land, through the trees she went and she swung Pirzola to a branch.

_Snap_.

The sound of the branch ripping off as soon as she'd swung with Pirzola lopsided her as she crashed to the ground. She paused a few moments checking if she was okay. She felt the ground around her and realized it felt oddly different.

Or she thought it was the ground before it spoke.

**Author's Note:**

> That's a wrap! Honestly once I even mention whose POV we'll be in the next chapter it's going to be very obvious who Summer just landed on.
> 
> Either way, enjoy volume 8! Is there any way to enjoy it? No. But you know what. Let's hope no one dies and that this doesn't turn into another volume 3 (Looking at you Miss. Penny Polendina *cough*)


End file.
